50,184 research outputs found
Solving constraint-satisfaction problems with distributed neocortical-like neuronal networks
Finding actions that satisfy the constraints imposed by both external inputs
and internal representations is central to decision making. We demonstrate that
some important classes of constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) can be solved
by networks composed of homogeneous cooperative-competitive modules that have
connectivity similar to motifs observed in the superficial layers of neocortex.
The winner-take-all modules are sparsely coupled by programming neurons that
embed the constraints onto the otherwise homogeneous modular computational
substrate. We show rules that embed any instance of the CSPs planar four-color
graph coloring, maximum independent set, and Sudoku on this substrate, and
provide mathematical proofs that guarantee these graph coloring problems will
convergence to a solution. The network is composed of non-saturating linear
threshold neurons. Their lack of right saturation allows the overall network to
explore the problem space driven through the unstable dynamics generated by
recurrent excitation. The direction of exploration is steered by the constraint
neurons. While many problems can be solved using only linear inhibitory
constraints, network performance on hard problems benefits significantly when
these negative constraints are implemented by non-linear multiplicative
inhibition. Overall, our results demonstrate the importance of instability
rather than stability in network computation, and also offer insight into the
computational role of dual inhibitory mechanisms in neural circuits.Comment: Accepted manuscript, in press, Neural Computation (2018
Plug-and-Play Model Predictive Control based on robust control invariant sets
In this paper we consider a linear system represented by a coupling graph
between subsystems and propose a distributed control scheme capable to
guarantee asymptotic stability and satisfaction of constraints on system inputs
and states. Most importantly, as in Riverso et al., 2012 our design procedure
enables plug-and-play (PnP) operations, meaning that (i) the addition or
removal of subsystems triggers the design of local controllers associated to
successors to the subsystem only and (ii) the synthesis of a local controller
for a subsystem requires information only from predecessors of the subsystem
and it can be performed using only local computational resources. Our method
hinges on local tube MPC controllers based on robust control invariant sets and
it advances the PnP design procedure proposed in Riverso et al., 2012 in
several directions. Quite notably, using recent results in the computation of
robust control invariant sets, we show how critical steps in the design of a
local controller can be solved through linear programming. Finally, an
application of the proposed control design procedure to frequency control in
power networks is presented
Efficient Solving of Quantified Inequality Constraints over the Real Numbers
Let a quantified inequality constraint over the reals be a formula in the
first-order predicate language over the structure of the real numbers, where
the allowed predicate symbols are and . Solving such constraints is
an undecidable problem when allowing function symbols such or . In
the paper we give an algorithm that terminates with a solution for all, except
for very special, pathological inputs. We ensure the practical efficiency of
this algorithm by employing constraint programming techniques
An Improved Constraint-Tightening Approach for Stochastic MPC
The problem of achieving a good trade-off in Stochastic Model Predictive
Control between the competing goals of improving the average performance and
reducing conservativeness, while still guaranteeing recursive feasibility and
low computational complexity, is addressed. We propose a novel, less
restrictive scheme which is based on considering stability and recursive
feasibility separately. Through an explicit first step constraint we guarantee
recursive feasibility. In particular we guarantee the existence of a feasible
input trajectory at each time instant, but we only require that the input
sequence computed at time remains feasible at time for most
disturbances but not necessarily for all, which suffices for stability. To
overcome the computational complexity of probabilistic constraints, we propose
an offline constraint-tightening procedure, which can be efficiently solved via
a sampling approach to the desired accuracy. The online computational
complexity of the resulting Model Predictive Control (MPC) algorithm is similar
to that of a nominal MPC with terminal region. A numerical example, which
provides a comparison with classical, recursively feasible Stochastic MPC and
Robust MPC, shows the efficacy of the proposed approach.Comment: Paper has been submitted to ACC 201
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